Spelt Muffins Recipe - Food.com (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to high muffins? ›

The idea here is to start the muffins in a very hot oven for just a short amount of time. This activates the baking powder and allows the muffins to shoot up in height quickly. We then turn the heat down and continue to cook for longer. This is done to avoid over-browning and overbaking.

Start the oven on high

Bake your muffins at 400°F for the first 5 minutes, then drop the temperature to the more standard 350°F for the remainder of the bake time. This method sparks the leavening agents (especially baking powder) in the batter to react quicker, creating that gorgeously risen top.

If your muffins feel heavy, the culprit could be one of three very common mistakes: Too much liquid – If there is too much liquid in the batter, the muffins will be very dense. Make sure to measure liquid ingredients in the correct type of measuring cup.

If there isn't enough egg, your batter or dough may not be able to hold its structure or could end up overly dry or dense. On the other hand, if there is too much egg, your baked goods could lose their shape due to excess liquid, or have a rubbery (or even overly cakey) texture depending on the recipe.

Eggs are responsible for giving baked goods structure, which means the amount you use directly affects the resulting texture. Using too few eggs will make your desserts dense, but using too many will make them rubbery.

Cake Flour: The flour with the lowest protein content (5 to 8 percent). The relative lack of gluten-forming proteins makes cake flour ideal for tender baked goods, such as cakes (of course), but also biscuits, muffins and scones.

Using oil as a substitute for butter in muffins can result in a lighter and more tender crumb, but it may also produce a slightly different flavor, depending on the type of oil used. Applesauce can also be used as a substitute for butter in muffins, as it provides moisture and can help to keep the muffins tender.

Rest the Muffin Batter

The first, most hands-off way to make your muffins pop (literally) is to let the batter rest. Make the batter, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let the batter rest at room temperature for about 1 hour. If you're short on time, just 30 minutes can make a difference.

Why do you put water in the oven when baking muffins? ›

It's an old wives tale, and it actually increases the humidity in the oven which creates water vapor that will weigh down the muffin batter. It also increases the barometric pressure within the oven, which will reduce the amount the muffins will rise.

The best bakery-style crumb muffins start with cake flour

Cake flour is more finely ground and has less protein, which leaves the muffins with a fine, light crumb and soft texture. Using cake flour is an easy way to avoid heavy, dense muffins even if you end up stirring just a bit too much.

According to O. Corriher, the way to get a perfectly puffed up dome on your muffins is to increase your oven heat. She says that 400° should do it, no matter what the recipe says. The higher baking temperature means that the the outside edges of the muffin will set while the middle is still liquidy.

Ideal Muffin Cooking Temperature

That being said, the standard oven temperature for baking desserts like quick breads and muffins is commonly set to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Setting your oven to this temperature will almost always produce a well-cooked muffin recipe.

Creaming SOFT butter with sugar suspends the sugar in the soft butter, making a fluffier batter or cookie dough .. which gives a more tender and lighter final product. Melted butter will make a dense and unpleasantly tough product.

Place your cupcakes into a preheated 400 degree F oven, no matter what temperature the recipe calls for. Most cupcake recipes suggest 350-375 degrees F, which results in a flat top. When you increase the temperature, the edges of the cupcakes will solidify first, allowing the center to rise, creating a domed top.

Not enough leavening agent. This can happen with unsifted flour (sifting also helps incorporate air), using the wrong type of flour (especially if the recipe calls for self-raising), or using old or improperly-stored flour or baking soda/powder.